Judge wants new Texas district maps by Monday

By Gary Scharrer |
August 3, 2006

AUSTIN — New congressional boundaries for South Texas should be drawn by Monday at the latest, U.S. Appellate Judge Patrick Higginbotham indicated today during a hearing that gave various sides a final opportunity to promote their own maps.

"We will do the best as we can as imperfect as probably that will be," Higginbotham said. "Our standard will be the voters."

The mandate is a U.S. Supreme Court ruling six weeks ago declaring the 23rd congressional district illegal because the current configuration dilutes the voting strength of Hispanic voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act. The district runs from San Antonio to El Paso and is currently represented by U.S. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio.

Most of the plans advocated by congressional members, the state of Texas and voting rights groups were designed to avoid making incumbents run against each other or to seek partisan political advantage.

"The most important thing the court did was the court was very clear they are going to put the interests of the voters first," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said after the hearing. "They are trying to set aside partisan politics. They are going to focus on remedying the problems that were raised by the U.S. Supreme Court."

Abbott has asked for a ruling before Tuesday in order to ensure that candidates can make the ballot in time for the November general election.]

It is unclear how many districts will be affected by a new map. Questions from the three-judge panel indicated the judges intend to draw their own map instead of choosing one from the parties.

"The court has asked enough questions to indicate to us that they are fairly far along in their own redistricting plan," said Nina Perales, regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which represents the GI Forum in the redistricting case.